LITTLE ROCK — The Cooperative Extension Service is working to ensure families in the Little Rock School District not only have enough to eat — but that they also have access to fresh produce they might otherwise skip.
“The last thing anyone needs to worry about is where their next meal is coming from,” said Chris Wyman, executive director of Potluck Food Rescue, a nonprofit organization that works to fight food insecurity by redirecting food from going to waste.
As part of a new partnership, Potluck recently collaborated with Pulaski County Extension and the Little Rock School District to distribute food at no cost to families during after school pick-up at Western Hills Elementary School. Wyman said hosting No Cost Markets at schools is an important way of meeting families’ needs.
“We’ve been doing No Cost Markets for the last five years, and we want to do them at schools that we know have a need for it,” Wyman said.
Laura Anne Warren, Pulaski County Extension family and consumer sciences agent for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has taught extension nutrition programming at Western Hills Elementary for the last 13 years. She said this new collaboration with Potluck Food Rescue and the Little Rock School District reflects the Cooperative Extension Service’s mission to strengthen Arkansas communities and families.
“Western Hills is a 92 percent free-or-reduced-lunch population school,” Warren said. “With increased economic pressures, parents are struggling to provide healthy food options for their families. Hosting a No Cost Market provides an additional avenue for low-income families to access fresh, healthy foods. This meets families where they are as they pick their students up from school.”
